GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s third-largest silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that customers’ inventory corrections are nearing completion, and it expects full-year revenue to exceed last year’s level, excluding the effects of foreign exchange rate fluctuations.
The company expects modest revenue growth next year, supported by a continued recovery in the semiconductor industry, driven by demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) applications.
“We believe that the most challenging phase is behind us,” GlobalWafers chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) told an online investors’ conference.
Photo courtesy of GlobalWafers Co
“The pace of recovery remains uneven across applications... AI and data center demand continues to drive investment in advanced nodes, while the PC and mobile segments remain muted, and we are gradually beginning to see positive signals from the automotive and industrial sectors,” Hsu said.
GlobalWafers’ revenue in the first half of this year expanded 3.9 percent annually to NT$31.6 billion (US$1.06 billion) — the third-highest first-half performance in the company’s history.
Although supply chain inventories are gradually declining, customer procurement decisions are increasingly influenced by geopolitical tensions and tariff-related considerations, prompting a shift toward regional sourcing strategies, the company said.
A potential challenge looms if Taiwanese semiconductor companies are subjected to a 20 percent tariff following the conclusion of a US Section 232 investigation under the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, as the company’s rivals are to be levied at a lower rate of 15 percent, Hsu said.
However, GlobalWafers said its global manufacturing footprint and cross-site product qualifications with customers provide the flexibility to shift production and shipments to regions with optimized cost structures.
The company is accelerating qualification processes and ramping up production at overseas sites to ensure resilient local supply, Hsu said.
If strong demand in the US persists, the company would consider advancing the next phase of capacity expansion to further enhance local support, she added.
GlobalWafers also operates production facilities in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea and Europe.
The company reported second-quarter net profit of NT$1.68 billion, up 15 percent from NT$1.46 billion in the previous quarter. However, net profit declined 41 percent from NT$2.88 billion a year earlier.
Earnings per share rose to NT$3.52 last quarter, up from NT$3.05 in the previous quarter, but down from NT$6.02 a year earlier.
Gross margin declined to 25.8 percent, compared with 26.4 percent in the first quarter and 32.3 percent in the same period last year, attributable to higher depreciation expenses and increased costs associated with the company’s global capacity expansion plans.
Factory utilization improved on a quarterly basis, with the loading rate of 12-inch silicon wafer production lines rising to more than 90 percent, and 8-inch lines operating at about 80 percent. Equipment usage for small-diameter wafers, such as 6-inch wafers, reached 70 percent, the company said.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
Memory chip stocks extended their losses yesterday after Alphabet Inc’s Google publicized research that could allow more efficient use of the storage needed for artificial intelligence (AI) development. SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, South Korean leaders in the market, fell more than 6 percent and about 5 percent respectively in Seoul. In the US, Micron Technology Inc, Western Digital Corp and Sandisk Corp slid more than 2 percent in pre-market trading, after they all closed lower on Wednesday. Memory companies have been on a tear in recent months as the rapid development of AI infrastructure triggered a spike in chip
RSS